Ukraine’s economic ministry has said the country incurred a $1bn trade loss after Russia imposed a ban on Ukraine food products, similar to that currently imposed on the EU and US, in January. Ukraine pork exports to Russia have collapsed to almost nothing from 36,000t in 2015, while beef exports are down 40%.

Brazilian beef exports to the Middle East for the first seven months of the year are running about 10% ahead of 2015. At the end of July, Brazil had shipped some 845,000t, or $660m, of beef to countries like Egypt, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Lybia.

Sheep numbers in New Zealand for the 12 months to the end of June 2016 declined 3% to 28.3m head. In contrast, beef cattle numbers increased 2.8% to 3.7m head, with greater numbers of weanling cattle (+8%) as a result of strong prices.

The USDA has forecast that the value of US agricultural exports will rise by $6bn in 2017 to reach $133bn. Strong export demand for soyabeans from China will drive the increase. However, increased beef and dairy shipments will also contribute.